Rockhampton was on the radar at the 2022 Queensland Tourism Awards on Friday evening, taking home a total of four awards.
The Queensland Tourism Awards recognise the outstanding achievements of the state's tourism industry and aims to reward excellence for best practice within the tourism sector. Explore Rockhampton, Rare Spares Rockynats and Empire Apartment Hotel were amongst the winners announced at the prestigious black-tie event.
Nominated by Advance Rockhampton, Rockhampton Regional Council's Industry Development, Tourism, Marketing and Major Events team, Explore Rockhampton was awarded silver in the 'Richard Power Award for Tourism Marketing and Campaigns' category with Rare Spares Rockynats taking out silver in the 'Festival and Events' category.
Empire Apartment Hotel also took home two awards, winning gold in the 'Business Event Venue' category, and silver in '4-4.5 Star Deluxe Accommodation' category.
Rockhampton Region Mayor Tony Williams said the awards place the Rockhampton region as one of Queensland's top travel and event destinations.
"Being recognised in the Queensland Tourism Awards places Rockhampton amongst some of the state's best tourism and event destinations, promoting Rockhampton not only as a holiday destination of choice, but as an events epicentre," Mayor Williams said.
"This recognition proves our region offers a multitude of reasons to visit – where else in Queensland can you attend nationally recognised events, stay in award winning accommodation and explore a region brimming with unique tourism experiences like fishing, mountain biking and playing with meerkats all in the heart of the city?
"It's been great to see our visitor numbers back to their pre-covid status and play host to thousands of visitors for our major events."
Advance Rockhampton Executive Manager Greg Bowden said these awards will help to push Rockhampton's economic profile as a leading tourism and events destination.
"This recognition has certainly put Rocky on the Radar not only as a great holiday destination but as a thriving region for economic growth and region of choice for major events," Mr Bowden said.
"Queensland's National Visitor Survey showed the Rockhampton region thrived from a tourism perspective during the last financial year, with Explore Rockhampton's destination marketing campaigns contributing to the 56.7% growth of the leisure visitor expenditure in the region.
"Being named a Tourism Queensland award recipient builds on the great work our local tourism operators, businesses and the Advance Rockhampton team are doing in creating a positive visitor experience and establishing iconic events to drive economic development in our region."
Award recipient and Managing Director of Empire Apartment Hotel, Grant Cassidy said adding to a list of impressive accolades, the Empire has received a Queensland Tourism Award every year since opening in December 2014.
"Being awarded the best in Queensland for another consecutive year is an incredible acknowledgement of the world-class product and service our team deliver every day in Rockhampton."
